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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Local Agenda 21 (LA21) emerged 23 years ago as a voluntary policy innovation for local governments aiming at sustainability and has now completed its lifecycle. We aim at a second look at LA21 from the standpoint of the institutional and innovation diffusion theories and with Portugal as case study. Results show a three moment lifecycle for LA21, each with distinct diffusion patterns. The Dawn, stymied by lack of regional and national leadership, was likely fuelled by a learning mechanism. It lasted 10 years and involved a mere 1% of the potential adopters. The Zenith took place when other countries had already come full circle. During this phase 27% of the local governments became active and both coercion and competition stand out as relevant engines. Twilight, most probably powered through coercion, competition and imitation mechanisms, took LA21 to a steady state with an additional 19% of local governments enrolling. Since then LA21 has shown departures in several different directions, including oblivion. We speculate, based on preliminary data that, although most LA21 are no longer active, a durable setting was created that promotes further innovation and public participation.
Description
Keywords
Indirect observation Innovation diffusion Local Agenda 21 Local sustainability Policy innovation Post LA21
Pedagogical Context
Citation
PINTO, Marta; MACEDO, Pedro; ALMEIDA, Conceição; SILVA, Margarida - The Lifecycle of a Voluntary Policy Innovation: The Case of Local Agenda 21. Journal of Management and Sustainability. ISSN 1925-4725. Vol. 5, n.º 2 (2015), p. 69-83
Publisher
Canadian Center of Science and Education